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The one-day Girl Summit in London is discussing ways to end female genital mutilation and forced marriage

London is hosting an international summit to discuss putting a stop to female genital mutilation. In the UK as many as 170,000 women and girls have been cut but why does the practice persist and what does it mean for the victims?

"They love their children a lot," Jay Kamara-Frederick says of the parents who have their daughters cut.

"They just want their child to be part of an out-dated, ancient tradition."

As a young teenager Jay, now in her thirties, was taken by her family from the UK back to Sierra Leone.

She was told she was going to join a woman's society and that it would "empower me as a woman".

But it was not until she was an adult that she realised what had been done to her 10 years earlier. And where that memory should have been, she says, there was instead a void.

"They say when people are traumatised that happens to them," Jay says. "That part of me was totally gone."

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Map shows the 29 countries where Unicef has found that FGM is concentrated. The practice is also found in pockets of Europe, North America and Asia

I don't think people understand in terms of the anatomical details of what is happening to girls - and the trauma behind thatJohn Cameron, NSPCC

Now a marketing consultant and some-time campaigner against the practice, Jay says what happened to her is not a subject easily discussed in her "very traditional" family.

"I really respect my mum's view, to be quiet on the issue," she says, smiling. "But what I love about my mum is that she respects my view to keep talking."

'Loving and caring'

Jay's story is far from unique - the Home Affairs Select Committee has estimated there could be 170,000 victims in the UK alone.

It is is a form of child abuse that is "out of the ordinary", says John Cameron, head of child protection at the NSPCC.

"Speaking out is a real problem," he adds, warning victims within families can "go under the radar".

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The centuries-old tradition is reportedly on the decline in northern Somalia

An NSPCC helpline introduced a year ago has already had almost 300 calls, prompting nearly 130 referrals to the police and children's services.

The following cases were among those calls (identifying details have been removed):

A doctor rang after becoming concerned about a patient whose father was preparing for his daughter to visit Somalia, but wouldn't give the doctor any details about why she was going there. The patient and family's details were passed on to children's services to follow up

A member of the public called the helpline to report that a female relative was soon to be circumcised against her will. His relative was being confined to her house. The caller was fearful that his call was being overheard and put the phone down mid-call

A father said he was worried his daughter would be taken to Gambia to undergo an FGM procedure. The caller told the NSPCC practitioner that some older members of his ex-partner's family had already had FGM and his ex-partner approved of it. The NSPCC practitioner referred the call to children's services

A mother said she was worried she would be unable to protect her daughter from FGM once returned to Nigeria. The caller had FGM done as a child and both her and her husband were against the practice, but her wider family supported FGM and another young family member had recently had the procedure

A member of the public called to share concerns about a young child who was absent from school for a few months in Nigeria. Suspicions arose as the child's mother gave varying explanations for the absence and the child's demeanour was different when she returned, and she would complain about painful toilet trips.

Female genital mutilation

Image copyrightAP

Practised in 29 countries in Africa and some countries in Asia and the Middle East

An estimated three million girls and women worldwide are at risk each year

About 125 million victims estimated to be living with the consequences

It is commonly carried out on young girls, often between infancy and the age of 15

Often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behaviour, to prepare a girl or woman for adulthood and marriage and to ensure "pure femininity"